The stakes are greater than ever before

The penetration of the Irish welfare system reveals Europe's vulnerability to cyberattacks

  • The impact of the cyber attack on Corona tests and virus status tracking systems.

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  • The Irish welfare system is coveted by many pirates.

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Unidentified hackers managed to infiltrate the health care system in the Republic of Ireland, which led to its shutdown, and this apparently is not the only goal of the hackers. Ireland's health care system was effectively suspended on Friday, and experts indicate that the whole of Europe is in danger. The cyber attack affected most health services in the country, including Corona virus tests, maternal care services, cancer care and covid-19 case tracking, and routine secondary care procedures.

One government minister described the crime as "the most important cyber crime in Ireland," according to the Irish Times. The attack comes on the heels of similar attacks on health care services elsewhere, in Europe, including the United Kingdom, Finland and France, and comes in the same week that a cyber attack occurred on an oil pipeline in the United States, which led to a widespread shortage of gas, All over the country. But cybersecurity experts say the worst is yet to come for vital services in Europe.

"It's getting worse and faster," said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, a Finnish cybersecurity company. While it is unclear what specific vulnerabilities were being exploited in Ireland's case, Hibbonen said, health care systems are "particularly vulnerable to such attacks." The main reason for the biggest outages in medical systems is the use of legacy systems. There is generally a shortage of budget for replacing old devices with new ones. Old devices are very slow to operate new systems, so old equipment continues to function.

Cyber ​​attacks on healthcare systems have risen significantly since the pandemic began last year. One of the trends is criminals hijacking servers, stealing personal data, then collecting money to allow officials to return, and threatening to sell data over the Internet, a type of attack known as "ransomware." Group AB, a cybersecurity company, said that ransomware attacks rose by 150% in 2020. In October, a hacker extorted tens of thousands of Finnish patients, after their treatment data from a medical center was stolen. In France, two groups of hospitals were attacked in the same week in February. A Russian criminal gang was accused when dozens of American hospitals were attacked last year.

“The attack on the Irish health system is another indication of how ransomware operators are always moving, as they develop their skills and become more effective at targeting larger institutions and networks,” said Paul Donegan, a cybersecurity expert. “There seem to be a few easy fixes. "Fixing electronic networks is costly and time consuming."

"The investigation and prevention measures may be stalled," said Lucas Olejnik, an independent researcher and consultant in the field of cybersecurity, adding, "Even if the direct impact of the attacks turns out to be minimal, the systems are still disrupted, but reform is exactly what the European Union is trying to mandate." ».

In December, the European Commission proposed an update to cybersecurity rules, known as "network routing and information security", which covers many sectors, including health care, to strengthen cyber defenses.

Cyber ​​attacks on healthcare systems have increased significantly since the pandemic began last year.

One of the trends is criminals hijacking servers, stealing personal data, then collecting money to allow officials to return, and threatening to sell data over the Internet, a type of attack known as "ransomware."

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